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In the eyes of a lifelong Dodgers fan and third-generation Mexican American, the crowning moment of the World Series didn't occur during the nail-biting final game last Saturday, when her team executed one dramatic escape act after another before winning in extra innings over the Toronto Blue Jays.

It came in the previous game, when two second-tier players, the Puerto Rican player and the Venezuelan infielder, executed a electrifying, game-winning play that at the same time upended many negative misconceptions touted about Latinos in recent years.

The play in itself was breathtaking: the outfielder raced in from left field to snag a ball he initially lost in the bright lights, then fired it to the infield to record another, decisive play. the second baseman, positioned nearby, caught the ball just a split second before a runner barreled into him, knocking him to the ground.

This was not just a great athletic moment, perhaps the key shift in momentum in the team's favor after appearing for most of the series like the weaker side. For Molina, it was thrilling, politically and culturally, a badly needed morale boost for the community and for the city after months of enforcement actions, security forces patrolling the streets, and a constant stream of criticism from official sources.

"The players presented this alternative story," explained Molina. "Everyone witnessed Latinos displaying an contagious enthusiasm in what they do, acting as key figures on the team, having a different kind of confidence. They're energetic, they're cheering, they're removing their shirts."

"It was such a contrast with what we observe on the news – raids, Latinos detained and chased down. It's so easy to be demoralized right now."

Not that it's exactly simple to be a Dodgers supporter nowadays – for Molina or for the legions of other fans who attend regularly to home games and occupy as many as 50% of the stadium's 50,000 spots per game.

A Mixed Connection with the Organization

After aggressive immigration raids started in the city in early June, and national guard units were deployed into the city to respond to ensuing demonstrations, two of the city's sports teams quickly released messages of support with immigrant families – but not the Dodgers.

Management has said the Dodgers prefer to steer clear of political issues – a stance influenced, perhaps, by the reality that a significant minority of the fans, even Latinos, are supporters of certain leaders. After considerable public pressure, the organization later pledged $one million in aid for families directly affected by the raids but issued no public condemnation of the government.

Official Event and Past Legacy

Months earlier, the organization did not delay in accepting an invitation to mark their previous World Series win at the official residence – a decision that local columnists labeled as "disappointing … weak … and hypocritical", considering the Dodgers' boast in having been the first major league team to end the racial segregation in the mid-20th century and the regular invocations of that legacy and the values it represents by officials and present and former athletes. A number of team members such as the coach had voiced reluctance to travel to the White House during the initial period but then reconsidered or succumbed to demands from team management.

Business Control and Supporter Dilemmas

A further issue for fans is that the Dodgers are controlled by a large investment group, Guggenheim Partners, whose investments, as per sources and its own released balance sheets, involve a stake in a private prison corporation that operates enforcement centers. The group's executives has stated repeatedly that it aims to remain neutral of politics, but its critics say the silence – and the investment – are their own form of acquiescence to current agendas.

These factors contribute to significant conflicted emotions among Hispanic supporters in particular – sentiments that emerged even in the euphoria of this season's hard-fought World Series victory and the following explosion of Dodgers support across Los Angeles.

"Can one to support the Dodgers?" local writer Erick Galindo agonized at the start of the playoffs in an thoughtful essay ruminating on "team loyalty in our blood, but uncertainty in our minds". He was unable to ultimately bring himself to watch the championship, but he still cared strongly, to the point that he decided his one-man protest must have brought the team the fortune it needed to succeed.

Separating the Team from the Management

Many supporters who share Galindo's misgivings appear to have concluded that they can continue to support the team and its roster of international players, including the Asian megastar Shohei Ohtani, while pouring scorn on the organization's corporate leadership. At no place was this more clear than at the championship parade at the home venue on the following day, when the capacity crowd roared in support of the coach and his players but booed the team president and the chief executive of the investors.

"The executives in formal attire don't get to claim our boys in blue from us," the fan said. "We have been with the Dodgers for more time than they have."

Past Background and Neighborhood Impact

The problem, though, goes further than only the team's present owners. The deal that brought the Brooklyn Dodgers to the city in the 1950s required the municipality demolishing three working-class Hispanic communities on a elevated area overlooking downtown and then transferring the land to the organization for a fraction of its actual worth. A song on a 2005 record that documents the events has an impoverished parking attendant at the stadium stating that the house he forfeited to removal is now third base.

Gustavo Arellano, perhaps the region's most widely followed Mexican American columnist and media personality, sees a darker side to the long, dysfunctional dynamic between the team and its audience. He describes the Dodgers the Flamin' Hot Cheetos of baseball, "a corporate entity with an excessive, even unhealthy devotion by numerous Latinos" that has been exploiting its supporters for years.

"They've put one arm around Hispanic fans while profiting from them with the other for so much time because they have been able to avoid consequences," Arellano wrote over the warmer months, when demands to avoid the organization over its lack of reaction to the raids were upended by the uncomfortable fact that attendance at matches remained steady, even at the peak of the protests when the city center was under to a nightly restriction.

Global Players and Community Bonds

Distinguishing the squad from its corporate owners is not a easy matter, {